Who we are - Canadian Forces Housing Agency Annual Report 2018-2019

CFHA proudly delivers Department of National Defence's (DND) military housing program and supporting housing services to CAF members and their families across Canada – which translates into nearly 28,000 occupants that live in our communities.

CFHA is a leader in federal residential housing. We offer a portfolio of RHU as an accommodation option to support CAF members and their families as they frequently relocate across Canada as duty demands, and at times, on short notice.

CFHA continuously modernizes its service delivery. We are focused on mission success, our organizational culture, our processes and our service to customers. We aim to provide the best possible service to our occupants and contribute to their well-being at home. There has been a definitive shift from “what we do” to “why we do it”, with a concentrated effort on the following priorities:

Provide quality housing that respond to the varied needs of diverse CAF families.
Provide a positive occupant experience through customer service excellence.
Contribute to vibrant and supportive communities that enable operational readiness.
Modernize tools, practices and processes, to maintain the Agency’s journey to continued excellence.
Develop new relationships with public, private and non-profit organizations in order to improve seamless housing services available to CAF members.
Promote a respectful workplace where employees are equipped and supported to do their best.

CFHA manages and operates approximately 11,665 RHUs across Canada at 27 locations. The CAF members who occupy RHUs have varied needs and diverse family compositions, which includes: military service couples, singles, multi-generational families, single parents, families with children, and families with dependents with special needs. We strive to accommodate with tailored housing solutions to meet individual lifestyle needs. We offer single, semi-detached, row, apartments, and barrier-free accessible (BFA) houses.

CFHA works with CAF and DND partners to support operational readiness; whether it’s a deployment, an exercise away from home, or the upheaval that moving brings, CFHA is dedicated to minimizing disruption to the family that can come from life in the military.

Each year, there are thousands of CAF members relocated throughout the country and in and out of our houses. We ensure that our RHUs are move-in ready, well-maintained and kept in good repair. Once moved in, our occupants can reach us 24/7. Peace of mind at home contributes to CAF families’ resiliency.

Our dedication goes beyond providing quality services and quality housing, as we are committed to contributing to supportive and dynamic communities. Our neighbourhoods are conveniently located near the workplace and to the support services made available to military families, such as Military Family Resource Centres (MFRC). Many military families choose to live in military housing because it provides them with certainty that their families are safe and secure when the serving member is away from home. CFHA is committed to supporting the CAF’s strong sense of family and community.

We deliver our services through a dedicated workforce whose varied knowledge, skills and abilities contribute to the Agency’s success. CFHA cultivates a diverse, inclusive, agile and healthy organization. A diverse team allows us to optimize varying points of view and solutions in the delivery of the mandate. We are committed to achieving a high standard of service excellence within the Public Service, and we continue to be certified at the Gold level with Excellence Canada. In 2016, the Agency achieved the Canada Award for Excellence, Innovation and Wellness (EIW). The EIW Standard is based on research and knowledge of success factors in the workplace from around the world. It advances excellence in Canadian organizations in all sectors and aligns well with the Treasury Board Management Accountability Framework. The structured and progressive approach to excellence provides CFHA with a strategic umbrella for continuous improvement and connects CFHAs various frameworks and improvement initiatives leading to tangible results for our customers and stakeholders.

Housing

We are modernizing the housing portfolio every year and transforming it to meet the needs of CAF members’ families. Our portfolio consists of row houses, singles, semi-detached and apartments.

In 2018-2019, we worked with many partners to deliver an ambitious program of lifecycle replacement and capital improvements, while increasing accessibility and energy efficiency in our buildings and continuing to build and revitalize our communities. With these investments, we improved the condition of our housing, along with the safety, accessibility, energy efficiency, and comfort for our occupants.

Housing statistics full text

$134.5 M Invested in 2018-2019

382 Recapitalizations (bathroom and kitchen renovations)

41 New Residential Housing Units built

3 Green Globe certifications

Nearly 20% of CAF members are occupants

Current housing portfolio

11,665 Residential Housing Units

Community revitalization

This year CFHA worked to improve and realign the portfolio to better meet the needs of the CAF, which included the construction of new RHUs in Trenton, Petawawa, Shilo and Moose Jaw. Many of these new RHU were 2-bedroom apartments, to meet the changing needs of CAF families.

In working with partners, CFHA collaborated on significant improvements to base/wing communities through exterior upgrades, increased availability of parking and recreational area improvements. Major projects were implemented in Valcartier, Kingston and Halifax in higher-density neighbourhoods in order to improve traffic and pedestrian flows, reduce congestion, and beautify these areas.

Feature project

In October 2018, CFHA and CFB Petawawa unveiled a new apartment complex providing a modern, eco-friendly accommodation option for CAF members and their families. The new complex serves to meet the needs of occupant demographics in Petawawa and has contributed to revitalizing the community landscape. This was a major step forward in aligning the housing portfolio with the needs of CAF families.

Accessibility and support to CAF families with special needs

CFHA is committed to building and adapting RHUs so that they are inclusive. We invested in accessibility upgrades and modifications to many RHUs, making them barrier-free and accessible. This improves the living conditions and provides support for CAF members and their family members that may have special requirements.

CFHA also increased its level of support to released members and their families, who may face a number of challenges related to transitioning from military to civilian life. In 2018-2019, CFHA aligned policies to extend the length of time that a released member can remain in a RHU in order to provide additional support while they transition to their new civilian life.

Greening initiatives

CFHA is committed to implementing green building principles to ensure the sustainability and resiliency of the housing portfolio. We are increasing the energy efficiency of our RHUs and we use Natural Resources Canada EnerGuide Home Evaluation protocol to assess renovated units. 100% of recapitalized RHUs achieved an EnerGuide energy performance standard, thereby we continue to be on track to meet Target 6 as set out in DEES. In addition, several of our newly constructed buildings have received greening certifications.

Through occupant newsletters we delivered awareness to occupants about best practices for seasonal home maintenance, energy conservation and waste management methods. As a result, our occupants may benefit from lower energy costs.

Customer service

CFHA completed approximately 6,350 housing allocation transactions last year. We aimed to make being posted from one location to another as smooth as possible for CAF members. We recognize the stress associated with moving and that is why our staff personalize services, catering to family needs in making the move as easy as possible.

Move in and move out - full text

27,650 occupants

3,173 move ins

3,156 move outs

Emergency After-Hours services

CFHA is ready to respond to unpredictable weather conditions or other emergencies that may affect RHUs at any time of the day or night. Our occupants can reach us through an emergency after-hours response service (EAHRS) (24 hours assistance) line. Last year we received 7,284 calls. Of those, 2,688 calls were deemed emergencies and were actioned immediately. Our occupants know that they can reach us and count on us.

Complaint management process

There were significant efforts made during this past year to improve the intake, management and resolution of customer complaints through the Complaint Resolution Process. Through the creation of a data analytics capability, CFHA developed an innovative tool for the analysis of customer complaints and inquiries, by location and type, in order to assist CFHA management in diagnosing potential systemic issues and in improving quality of services to occupants. In the evaluation of call logs we have seen a decline of 9.3% in complaints and service calls in 2018-2019 versus previous years.

Customer satisfaction with contractor performance

CFHA launched a new program in 2018-2019 for the follow-up and feedback from occupants on contractor timeliness and responsiveness with repairs and maintenance service requests. These evaluations provide CFHA staff with vital input directly from occupants on the performance of contractors that are on-site and in the homes of CAF members, which enables us to improve our front-line services and better serve our occupants.

Workforce

We are a strong and diverse workforce and we invest in our employees. In 2018-2019, we continued to provide functional, technical and operations program training to our teams. Front-line staff received tailored training through a combination of customized and job-specific support. We employed CAF members who transitioned into the civilian public service. We also currently employ over a dozen military spouses. Their knowledge, skillset and ability to relate to the military life are assets and provides us with insight for improvements. We welcomed all employment equity groups in our workplace and we removed barriers experienced by employment equity groups to ensure our workforce is comfortable, accepted and that we celebrate diversity. CFHA Public Service Employee Survey results demonstrated that our employees feel that their employment is a good fit with their skills and interest.

Equity groups - full text

2018 to 2019 fiscal year

Total*: 278

Women: 150

Visible minorities: 15

Persons with disabilities: 16

Indigenous peoples: 17

Note

This graph presents the quantitative results achieved in the representation of each of the four employment equity designated groups for the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year.

* Total employee count of 278 includes only indeterminate employees.

Workforce statistics - full text

2 Military to Civilian transitions

3 Military spouses hired

7% of our workforce are students

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Date modified:: 2020-10-29

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